Of Ice and Diamonds
by Sienna Frills
Summary: Coolly, I turned and glanced over my shoulder, and our eyes locked- hard onyx set in a stony face, drilling into my eyes like an ice-pick. And I couldn't look away from him- some unseen force was keeping me locked to him, and it was amazing.
1. Exile

_Of Ice and Diamonds_

* * *

**Chapter One  
Exile**

Everything was falling apart, and- because there was only so much I could cope with by throwing up- I decided to run. I mean, what else could I do? Serena had had enough of me and chose her Brooklyn boyfriend over her best friend, Nate had dumped me because he found out what had happened between Chuck and me, Chuck had basically called me a used horse and said he was finished with me, and all my friends had betrayed me- even little Jenny Humphrey had turned against me. As far as I was concerned, I was ruined on the Upper East Side, and the only solution was to get out and away. So- out of pure desperation- I swallowed my pride and told my mother I wanted to live with my father and his boyfriend. She had argued against it at first, but when she saw how distraught I was she had called my father and arranged it right away. I was on a plane and out of Manhattan within twenty-four hours.

My dad and his boyfriend, Roman, met me at the airport in their Land Rover. They were in khaki and corduroy, looking every part the gay, hick-town couple they had become. It made me sick as I strode across the tarmac towards them, but they were happy to see me- smiling brightly and waving- and I had really missed my dad, so it wasn't all bad. The moment I was close enough, my father pulled me into a tight hug, and I felt tears well up in my eyes. It was so nice to be comforted- especially by the familiar smell of my dad's cologne and detergent- after the hell I had left behind in New York.

"Bear," he whispered into my hair. "It's so good to see you."

I rubbed my cheek against the thick material of his sweater, quietly saying, "It's good to see you too, Dad."

"Deed you 'ave a good flight, Blair?" Roman asked in his French-accented English when I pulled away from my dad.

I looked at him and tried my best to smile genuinely, saying, "It was fine, thanks Roman."

"Come on, let's go home," my dad said, and we quickly gathered up my bags and packed up the car.

The ride back to my dad and Roman's house took about an hour. We talked about the house, my mom, where I would be going to school, their cat Cat, and, briefly, about how school at Constance had been going, and about Serena and my friends. Neither my dad nor Roman brought up the giant elephant in the car- why I was coming to live with them in their Podunk little hick town, why I was leaving the city in the middle of the school year, etc.- and I offered them very little information. Constance was fine, Serena was fine, my friends were all fine, _everything was fine_. And when we stopped talking about all that, we passed the rest of the ride in silence.

* * *

My mom and dad separated when I was a sophomore. He had been seeing one of her male models, Roman, behind her back, and she kicked him out of the house when she found out.

At first he had stayed at Roman's loft, trying to stop by and sit down with my mom every day when I was in school. After that failed, he stopped by once a week and was ignored every time. And every day throughout the whole ordeal, he tried to get in touch with me. He would call the house or my cell phone, but I didn't want to speak to him. He had lied to us- had lied to me- my whole life, and I never wanted to see or speak to him again.

But then one day he waited for me outside of Constance until school let out, and then he followed me as I walked home. As we walked he had talked to me- tried to explain to me how hard it was for him, how he loved me no matter what- but I wouldn't listen. I hailed a taxi and left him somewhere near the steps of the Met, dejected.

Eventually, meetings with lawyers followed. My mom became more stressed, Dad stopped showing up at the building, there was screaming over the phone, crying at night, and throwing up more and more. He filed for divorce and she told him he was a 'lying, fucking bastard,' and he told her he was moving away with Roman- out of the city, out of New York- and he wanted me to be in his life. She told him to go to Hell.

Before he left though, he gave me a letter. In it, he apologized for hurting my mother and me and told me that he loved me- would always love me- and that he never wanted to lose me. He tried to explain why he did what he did- tried to explain that he finally felt like he was living the life he wanted, and that it would only be complete if I was a part of it too. He told me he was moving out west with Roman- to a small town on the Olympic Peninsula- and that I would have a room there if I ever chose to visit.

We started writing letters and talking on the phone that summer, when I had licked my wounds enough and realized how much I missed my dad. This year, while I was ready to make him a part of my life again, my mother was more reluctant, but around Christmastime, everything fell into place- Mom and Dad started getting along, Mom and Roman got along, I got along with both of them, and everything was nice and amiable.

That day- the day I moved out of the city- was the first time I had ever gone to Forks though, and when I got there, I really wished it was only a visit. With every mile and every hideously green tree that passed though, I realized how real it was, and I felt more and more nauseous as we neared closer to the house.

The town was so small, the houses so quaint and little, the people so ill-dressed and friendly, and it all added insult to injury.

"This is it, Bear," my dad said- _proudly!_- from the driver's seat. "This is Forks."

I wanted to vomit.

* * *

Dad and Roman's house wasn't so bad. It was on the edge of town, near a huge forest, and it was pretty big- but not massive- in a classic Tudor style. There was a porch along the front, where wicker furniture was set up, a white Audi in the driveway, and a fat, orange cat in the big front window. All in all, it looked like a sanctuary- the first piece of luxury I could see in this No Man's Land- and I felt my anxiety abate slightly.

Roman and my dad managed to haul all of my stuff up to my room, and then they left me to settle and get unpacked.

When I was left alone and they were both safely downstairs, I sat down on my bed and looked around my room. It was simple, painted a faint mint green, with gauzy white curtains, thick white bedding, and a dark oak sleigh bed with matching dresser and vanity table. On the wall above my bed, my dad had hung up two framed photographs of Paris, and two of Audrey Hepburn. I smiled at them, but then looked away, remembering my suitcases on the floor.

I don't think I had ever packed or unpacked a suitcase in my life. Usually I had Dorota to do that for me. But it was clear no one would be doting on me here, and I was expected to do things for myself. With this realization in my mind, I stood up, kicked my suitcases out of the way, closed my bedroom door, crossed over to my private bathroom, closed the door, cranked up the shower, and threw up any leftover food from the plane that might have been digesting in my stomach.

* * *

Later that night, after dinner with my dad and Roman, I was lying awake in bed, staring at the picture of my dad and me in front of Versailles- a picture from eighth grade that he had also set up on my night stand for my arrival- and letting myself wallow in my misery. Just before midnight, there was a knock at my door, and my dad walked in.

"Hey," he whispered, leaving the door open a crack. "I brought you something."

He pulled a portable DVD player and a DVD from behind his back and came over to me, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

The DVD was _Breakfast at Tiffany's_.

"I thought it might help you get to sleep," he told me, smiling.

I smiled back, feeling my throat constrict with unshed tears, and I croaked, "Thanks, Dad."

"It's good to have you here, Blair," he said to me, softly and sincerely, his eyes shining as he stared down at me.

Swallowing past the begging tears, I smiled sadly.

"What's wrong, Bear?" he asked, reaching out and stroking my cheek. "What is it?"

I knew he was asking after my current sadness, and why I had come to live with him, even though he hadn't come right out and asked that particular question. In any case, I shook my head.

"Blair."

Swallowing again, I felt my eyes fill up with tears and I blinked them away, saying, "It doesn't matter."

"It does," he insisted gently. "What is it?"

"Dad, everything's horrible- everything in the city," I told him, feeling every defense and guard I had put up fall right away at my dad's concern. "Nate and Chuck and Serena- they all hate me- everyone in school hates me."

He knotted his eyebrows, saying, "What do you mean? You came out here because of the people at school-"

"And my friends!" I said, my voice watery.

"Blair-"

I cut him off again, "Dad, everything was ruined for me, okay?" I shook my head as a tear dribbled out of my eye. "Please don't ask me to explain, just trust that I needed to leave- that I needed to get away from the city."

He stared at me for a long moment, and then nodded slowly, "I can understand that- after all, why do you think _I'm_ here?" He patted my leg and said, "I'm glad to have you here, Bear- whatever the reason- just let me know if you need anything- if you want to talk."

"Thanks, Dad," I whispered.

He nodded, leaned forward, gently kissed me on the head, and then left my room.

That night I fell asleep to _Breakfast at Tiffany's_. And I cried silently throughout the whole movie.

* * *


	2. Fabulous

_Of Ice and Diamonds_

* * *

**Chapter Two  
Fabulous**

I had one week- one blissful week- where I was able to sleep in and lounge around the house in sweats and eat the French food Roman cooked for me and watch Audrey Hepburn movies with Cat while my dad was at work, being a small-town lawyer. Sometimes I hung out with Roman- he was almost always home because he was a retired model and his job was being a homemaker now- and sometimes I stayed in my new room, with the curtains drawn and my floor littered with wrappers and empty containers of food. Sometimes I had good days, where I didn't think about what I had left behind in the city and what had happened- where I didn't feel the stinging shame of sleeping with both Chuck and Nate in one week and having it broadcast to the whole school that I had thought I might be pregnant. And sometimes I got texts from Gossip Girl's site- texts about my disappearance and everyone's opinions on it and information on how Chuck had a new Italian girlfriend and Nate was hanging out more with Jenny- and I found myself in the bathroom more and more. At any rate, the week was _virtually_ blissful, because it meant I could stay locked up in my dad and Roman's little house, ignore the gray, rainy town of Forks and the life I would have to lead there. But then the week ended and I had to go to school.

_Public_ school, no less. With the teenaged _hicks_ of Forks.

I absolutely wanted to die.

To make matters worse, my dad drove me there that first Monday morning, optimistic and cheerful as water dribbled down the windshield in rivulets.

"The kids in this town are great, Bear," he told me with a smile. "Really- everyone's very friendly and welcoming so you'll make friends in no time."

Because that's exactly what I wanted- for the Forks freaks to welcome and befriend me.

I snorted in the passenger's seat, my Chanel tote weighing heavily on my lap.

He smiled a little sternly and glanced over at me, saying, "So maybe it's not Manhattan- and maybe the people here aren't the equivalents of Serena van der Woodsen and Nate Archibald- but they aren't bad, Blair." I rose an eyebrow at him and he sighed, "Just- promise me you'll give it a chance- the town, and the people."

"I can't promise that, Dad."

He sighed again.

After a few long moments of silence- when we were stopped at a stoplight- I finally verbalized the question that had been burning in my mind since my arrival. "Dad," I began, "why Forks?"

He looked over at me, seeming to be genuinely confused.

"Why did you move here- to this town of all places?" I asked. "I mean, it's such a small town- they can't be very welcoming of you and Roman."

He smiled at me- a little tiredly- and said, "When you live in the city your whole life- a part of the Upper East Side set- and you're rejected by them for who you are, a small town is ideal." The light changed and we started moving again, and he continued, "And they're very welcoming of us."

I wasn't so sure about this, but I didn't say anything in response.

After another minute, my dad said, "You ready?" and I looked over to see that we were pulling into the school driveway.

My stomach seemed to tumble inside of me, and I swallowed hard.

Ready or not, there I went.

* * *

"I'm sorry, what'd you say your name was?"

My English teacher was an ancient old man- probably knew Shakespeare personally- who squinted at me from behind huge glasses when I entered his classroom with my note from the office. The class was filling up behind me, and I could feel about two dozen eyes on me, and it was like I had never fucking left the city. Except that I didn't care about what anyone's opinion was in Forks. They all had bad clothes- didn't anyone get _dressed_ for school?- and bad hair, and it looked like none of them had one inkling of a clue. So I didn't even flinch when I knew I was being scrutinized. Instead, I focused on my teacher.

My name shot out of my mouth impatiently. "Blair Waldorf."

The old man- Mr. Chuttel- leaned over a piece of paper and scanned it for a long moment. Then, he said, "Yes, yes! Nice to have you with us Miss Waldorf." He looked up and handed me a paperback book- _The Great Gatsby_. "Have a seat anywhere that's free."

Turning, I realized that the whole class had filled up and there were only a handful of seats available. In the back, there were four, and then one next to a boy a few rows from the back. There wasn't a jacket or books on the desk, so I made my way toward him. And while everyone chattered around me, I still knew I was being watched, and I stopped at the empty desk, meeting the boy's eager eyes.

_Jesus Christ_, I thought to myself, _he looks like he's stepped out of a Gap ad_. He was all twinkling eyes and fresh-facedness.

"Is anyone sitting here?" I asked him, as if daring him to tell me that someone was.

He shook his head and pulled out the chair for me, smiling brightly and saying, "Nope, all yours."

I gave him a tight smile and said, "Thanks," before sitting down and lowering my bag onto the desk.

"I'm Michael- Mike- Newton," he told me. "You're new here, right?"

How perceptive, I thought. I looked at him and tightened my smile even more.

"Blair, right?"

"Right," I said, my voice clipped and anything but open and friendly.

I wasn't in Forks to make _friends_.

That didn't seem to register with my new seatmate though, because he continued, asking, "Where are you from?"

"New York," I said simply.

"Like, the city?" he asked, suddenly even more excited.

I nodded and went back to ignoring him.

Thankfully, Mr. Chuttel began the lesson, and Michael- Mike- Newton didn't get a chance to bother me again until the end of the class, when we were exiting the room and he asked me where I was headed.

"French with Mademoiselle Hong," I told him.

He looked crestfallen, saying, "Oh- I have gym."

Damn, because I _so_ wanted the labrador retriever following me around all day.

"You should sit with me and my friends at lunch though!" he said, and it made my chest twinge to think I wouldn't be on the steps of the Met with Serena and the other girls. "I mean, if you don't have other plans, that is."

I wasn't going to admit that I didn't have other plans, so I just crisply said, "Thanks," and walked away from him before he could say anything else.

I refused to jump to agree, but then again I wouldn't turn down the opportunity for company at lunch until I knew I didn't have a better offer.

* * *

As it turned out, I didn't. Have a better offer for lunch, I mean. So, I ended up sitting with Mike and his friends. They were okay, I guess. Blandly dressed and made up, and all they did was sit around and ask me questions about the city and it was really boring. But, these people were idolizing me because of where I had lived, and I never turned down positive attention. So I answered questions about taxis and the subway (ew?) and the Empire State Building and Broadway, and every cliche city trait that you can think of, and they all told me I was _so_ metropolitan and well-dressed and enviable. And Serena-my-ex-best-friend van der Woodsen wasn't there to suck up all the glory either, so I enjoyed every minute of it as best I could.

Like I said though, it was relatively boring, so my eyes started to wander.

That was when I saw them.

Sitting across the cafeteria, at a table all to themselves, were five people- people actually _worth_ looking at. One of them was a surprisingly muscled (for high school, anyway) boy with curly brown hair and mischievous eyes. Beside him was a supremely beautiful girl with blonde hair and a body that would even make Serena jealous. Also, there was a small girl with short, wispy dark hair and a pixie-like face, and a boy with honey-blonde hair and a tense look about him. But the one guy that held my attention the longest was a guy with bronze-colored hair and steely, black irises. I don't throw this term around a lot, but he was absolutely _breathtaking_.

And the thing about all of them was that they were all brutally pale, with purple-black shadows under their strange, dark eyes, and they all seemed kind of menacing in their beauty. Not to mention, they were all dressed in low-key designer clothes.

They seemed like the only people in this whole, godforsaken town that I could remotely see myself being friends with, but seeing them made me shiver.

"Who are they?" I asked Jessica, cutting her off in the middle of a story about how she had gone to the city with her mother, aunt, and grandmother once to see _Beauty and the Beast_ on Broadway.

A little startled, she followed my eyes and looked to the beautiful group. Familiarity dawned on her face and she smiled a little, saying, "The Cullens."

Another shiver went up my spine, and I pulled my sweater more tightly around me, clearing my throat and turning away from them to look back at Jessica. I waited for her to elaborate.

"They're Dr. Cullens kids- foster and adopted," she said. "The blonde one is Rosalie, the big guy is Emmett, the little one is Alice, the blonde boy is Jasper, and the other guy is Edward."

_Edward_.

My stomach flipped involuntarily.

"They kind of keep to themselves," Jessica said, glancing between me and the Cullens in intervals. "And they're all, like, _together_."

My eyebrows pulled together.

"Yeah- Rosalie and Emmett, and Alice and Jasper," she said conspiratorially. "I mean, I guess they're not _technically_ related, but still...."

_Weird_.... I thought.

"Omigod," she suddenly said.

Looking at her with knitted eyebrows, I asked, "What?"

"Edward's staring at you," she whispered, leaning toward me, her eyes flashing between us.

"Really?" I asked, working to keep my voice steady.

Normally the fact that a boy was staring at me wouldn't have much outward affect on me- even a beautiful boy- but there was something about these people that begged for me to be a part of their group. Maybe it was there celebrity, their cool, aloof air, or their beauty. Or maybe it was because I knew they were the creme de la creme of Forks. I don't know. All I knew at the point, was that I desperately wanted to be a part of who they were.

Coolly, I turned and glanced over my shoulder, and our eyes locked- hard onyx set in a stony face, drilling into my eyes like an ice-pick. He was still and unmoving, and I was sure he wasn't even breathing. My stomach and heart clenched together, and I was suddenly very aware of my clothes and my face, and I couldn't look away from him. Some unseen force was keeping me locked to him, and it was frightening and amazing all at once.

I watched as his brow suddenly furrowed, and then as he abruptly stood and exited the cafeteria, leaving me to watch him until he was gone.

It was at that moment- when he disappeared from view entirely- that I was able to breathe again.

* * *

When I walked into my last period biology class my eyes were immediately drawn to the white skin and bronze hair, and my breath caught in my throat. He was sitting at a lab table, staring right at me, his brow tense and his jaw tight. God, he was beautiful. He blew Chuck, Nate, Jude Law, Hugh Dancy, any Calvin Klein model I had ever salivated over, out of the water, and it was startling.

"Can I help you?" my biology teacher asked.

Somehow, I managed to turn away from the beautiful boy- _Edward_- and handed my teacher my note from the office.

After signing it, he said, "You can sit anywhere that's open."

Turning, I faced the classroom. Of course, by some twist of fate, I found that the only available spot was the one beside the beautiful boy with the honey-colored hair. So, mustering all of that classic Waldorf courage, I sauntered down the aisle and slid onto the stool beside him, casually plopping my Chanel tote on the table. I crossed my legs and glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, pretending to be admiring my Louboutin heals. He was just sitting there stiffly, looking straight ahead.

Suddenly, someone scurried past me to get to their seat, rustling the air around us as they did so, and I noticed Edward actually move for the first time since I had gotten there. A hand clamped down over his mouth and nose, his whole body seeming to pull taut against some unforeseen effort, and his eyes darted toward me, back and forth.  
_  
What the fuck?_ I thought to myself, raising an eyebrow at his sudden tension.

I knew he saw me- saw my questioning look- but he didn't give me any explanation, didn't relax one iota.

What was with him, I wondered. He looked like he had smelled something bad, or was going to throw up, and I briefly wondered if it was me. I didn't smell, I knew that much for certain, so what what his problem exactly?

He didn't move for the entire class period, and when the bell rang, he jumped off of his stool like he had been set on fire and disappeared from the room before I had even picked up my bag.

If he hadn't been so beautiful, I probably would have immediately brushed him off as a freak, but, since he _was_ the most beautiful boy I had ever seen in my entire life, I actually let it slide.

When I left science it was raining again, so I hurried to the main building, my heals scraping angrily against the wet sidewalk as I went. When I finally reached the office, my curls were freckled with rain water and my toes were cold from walking through puddles, souring my already peeved mood entirely. And as I opened the door, I cursed the town of Forks and the horrible climate surrounding it, only to look up and find my beautiful freak standing before the front desk.

"Are you sure I can't just drop the class?" he was saying to the woman behind the desk.

She shook her head, "You'd risk failing if you dropped out this late in the year."

"Well isn't there another science class I can take?" he prodded, his voice tight and angry.

My whole body went rigid. He was trying to get out of biology. The day I had joined the class. Coincidence? I knew better than to think so.

Angrily, I stomped forward and shoved the 'Welcome to Forks High!' sheet my teachers had to sign all day at the woman behind the desk, and she looked at me, startled.

Turning his head slowly, Edward looked at me, and, again, I didn't see him breathing at all.

I stared at him defiantly, smirking just the slightest bit.

"Hello," I said coolly to him.

He didn't say anything, only turned on his heal and strode out of the office.

Looking a little ruffled, the woman behind the desk sorted some papers and said, "Did you have a good day, dear?"

"Fabulous," I said to her, and then turned and left the office as well.

* * *


	3. Gratitude

_Of Ice and Diamonds_

* * *

**Chapter Three  
Gratitude**

Edward was beautiful- in the kind of way that made me go weak in the knees and think of black-and-white scenes set in the rain- but I didn't let him get to me. I had too much on my plate to worry about him and his weird, pale siblings, so I let him slip from my mind. Taking his place were things like my parents' relentless worry over me, being transplanted to a town that was as boring as Forks, my lack of a social life in any sense of the word and the hierarchy I would have to whip up in a high school without any if I wanted my life with my dad to be at all enjoyable. And, amidst all of this, were thoughts of Serena- my best friend who had abandoned me for a boy from Brooklyn, my sidekick who was no longer at my side, my sister for all intents and purposes, who hadn't even cared enough to call until that night.

"Blair," was all she said when I finally unfroze and answered the phone.

"Yes?" I managed to choke out.

Her voice was rushed and worried as she said, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in school and none of the girls know where you are."

This ignited my anger, let it wash out all other feelings. She was my best friend, she was supposed to care sooner than this. "I've been out of the city for a week and you're only calling me _now_?"

Pause.

"I was angry. You told me I had low-rent taste, Blair," she replied, as if reminding me of my own opinion of her and her stupid boyfriend. "You blamed me for the Gossip Girl blast-"

Cutting her off, I shouted, "That's because it _was_ your fault! You told Dan about Chuck and me and he told his stupid social-climbing sister!" I shook my head in disbelief. "If you hadn't said anything it wouldn't have ended up on Gossip Girl!"

"Listen to yourself!" she shot back. "Why are you asking me why I've waited a week to call you when this is the way you've been treating me?"

"Why are you calling me if that's how you feel?" I countered. "Don't worry about where I am, don't worry about when you'll see me again, don't worry about _me_, because I'm done with you and everyone else in New York!"

Shouting back, she said, "Fine," and hung up.

* * *

Due to the Serena phone call, I got little sleep that night, and I was in a seriously bad mood when I arrived at school the following day. It didn't help matters that I was being trailed by my Forks followers as if their rainy, bargain basement lives depended on it. I wanted a posse of people who _mattered_. And, as if things couldn't get worse, I noticed Edward Cullen's absence from school by lunchtime. The rest of his creepy, beautiful family was there, but he was gone. And while Mike Newton rambled on about something I couldn't care less about, over his cup of cafeteria fries, I stared across the space, to where Edward should have been, his absence setting an annoyance wriggling in the back of my brain.

The beautiful blonde looked up once and caught my eyes, her icy glare rivaling my own.

My eyes shifted to her "brother's" empty chair, and then I met her gaze again, raising an eyebrow as if to say "you think I don't know this is about me? you think I'm going to let this go without a question?" But instead of getting any kind of reaction out of her, she just turned her attention back to her tablemates, and I was left to drown with my own.

By Monday, however, Edward Cullen had returned. I saw him sitting casually and unassuming with his siblings- as if he hadn't just been absent for days- and I wondered about him. Who _was_ this guy?

It wasn't until biology that I got my chance to talk to him though.

"Hello," he said, as I took my seat beside him at the lab table, dropping my bag between us. "I didn't get a chance to properly introduce myself last week, I'm Edward Cullen."

Cocking my head slightly, I regarded him. "That's right, you were too busy acting as if I was some kind of social leper- or did you think I had forgotten?"

He looked surprised and pained at the same time. "I'm sorry, I was just-"

"Being ridiculous?" I finished for him. "Clearly you don't know who I am, so I forgive you- but I'm a Waldorf, and if you think I'll be playing second string to you and your family in Forks, you're sadly mistaken."

In response to this, he clenched his jaw. "Forks isn't like that," he said after a moment. "There isn't the pecking order you have in mind, Miss _Waldorf_."

"Don't presume to tell me that you know what I have in mind," I snapped as the bell rang, the last students hurrying into the classroom.

For some reason, Edward smirked to himself.

"What?" I demanded, finding him more and more infuriating by the minute.

He shook his head, looking as if he was sharing some kind of private joke with himself. "Nothing."

"Don't play with me," I hissed, as the teacher flipped off the lights and pulled the projector to the middle of the room. "Because I _will_ win."

"Is that so?" he countered.

I raised a brow at him and said, "Would you really like to find out?"

At this, he was still smiling to himself, but it finally got him to shut up- though I didn't feel as if I had accomplished anything in doing so.

A dozen or so minutes later our teacher had us working in pairs with slides under a microscope. Edward and I did our work silently, and my thoughts were turned back to Serena- who I hadn't spoken to since the week before- and to Nate and Chuck- who I hadn't spoken to since I'd left the city. I tried to shake them all from my thoughts, because that's why I was in Forks to begin with, but it was more difficult than I would have hoped. Everything brought back the words Chuck had said to me before I left- about me being a horse, ridden hard and put away wet- and the look on Nate's face as he broke up with me for the last time, and it made me feel sick.

"Rosalie likes your shoes."

Edward's voice broke into my thoughts without warning and I turned to him over our slides, knitting my eyebrows and saying, "What?"

"My foster sister, Rosalie- the blonde that I sit with?" he explained. "She mentioned that she liked the shoes you wore your first day here."

I stared at him as if he was crazy because- what the hell?

"Just thought I'd let you know," he shrugged, going back to work.

I stared at him for a while- gauged that he was trying to be nice- and hesitantly said, "Thanks."

"You're from New York City, right?" he asked, keeping up the stream of conversation for some reason, as he simultaneously wrote our answers on a worksheet.

I nodded.

He glanced at me, seeming satisfied with something, and then said, "Forks must be very different."

"Yeah," I replied suspiciously. "Why are you suddenly being nice to me? At the beginning of the period you had me all figured out, remember?"

For a second he looked guilty, and then he shrugged again. "Trying to be the bigger person, I guess."

I scoffed, "Right."

He paused for a moment, smirked again, and then looked at me with his intense eyes that were now the color of molten gold, and said, "Maybe I just don't want you to feel second string to me and my weird, pale siblings."

Had I said that out loud- that I thought he and his siblings were weird and pale? I was sure I hadn't.

And then the bell rang, and he got up, dropped our- really, _his_- work onto the teacher's desk, and was gone.

* * *

After school that day I stood outside waiting for Roman to come pick me up. I tried to ignore the niggling of Edward's retort in the back of my brain- the way he had turned my own words against me and left without giving me a chance to retaliate- and the fact that I was so out of place on the school's sidewalk, sticking out like a sore, designer-clad thumb. With nothing else to do, I fiddled around with my phone- though I had no one to text or call except Dorota and my mom- and tried to keep my stockinged legs warm in the late winter chill that was only made worse by the opaque, gray sky above.

To make myself feel better, I thought of Audrey Hepburn in _Funny Face_, of ice cream cones from a little shop in the Hamptons, of cigarette holders, of spending Sundays watching _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ and stuffing my face with my best friend.

I cleared my throat, swiping the familiar blond from my mind.

New shoes. Big sunglasses. Clean, cool porcelain tiles. The Yale campus on a warm, spring day. Hot chocolate. Bubble baths. Lounging around the penthouse with Serena, Chuck, and Nate-

_Fuck!_ Why couldn't I stop thinking about all of those two-timing, backstabbers?

Suddenly, I got that familiar feeling- as if someone was watching me- and I looked up.

Across the lot, standing by a silver Volvo, was Edward. He was watching me with a interested look on his face, as if I was some kind of Monet he was trying to work out.

Second-string. Pale, weird siblings.

I wasn't going to let him get the last word.

Stepping down from the sidewalk and into the parking lot, I marched toward Edward with purpose, his siblings all crowding around a red, convertible nearby. My violet Jimmy Choos clacked loudly against the asphalt, my coat whipping around me as I moved, my bag swinging on my arm. I knew what I looked like. A force to be reckoned with. It made a satisfied smile pull against my lips, but I kept my face serious. I meant business.

But, without warning, there was the sound of screeching brakes to break through my thoughts, tires skidding, and I saw a big, red van fishtailing towards before I even realized I was frozen right in its way.

I only had enough time to conjure up flashbulb images in my brain- of me lying in a coma in a hospital bed, Serena, Chuck and Nate all sitting around me in tears, wishing they had appreciated me when I wasn't on the brink of death- before someone was grabbing me to them, spinning me dizzily out of the way, holding me as the van continued without me in its path, until it hit another car and caused a whole commotion on the other side of the parking lot.

My heart began pounding in my chest as I clutched to the person holding me and I shivered.

"Oh my God," I managed to finally say. And then I looked up and saw my savior. "Oh my _God_!"

Edward let go of me before I could say anything else- his arms releasing me roughly, like he was disgusted- and he started to head back over to his car.

"Hey!" I called after him. "Wait a second."

He ignored me.

"How did you do that?" I demanded. "You were across the parking lot!"

Over his shoulder, he said, "I was right near you."

"No you weren't!" I shook my head, glancing to see a boy get out of the van and start freaking out, blood dripping from his forehead. "I saw you- I was _watching_ you as I walked over."

Suddenly, he turned neatly on his heel and got very close to me. "I'm fast, okay? I saw you and I acted- that was it."

His eyes were menacing, but I wasn't intimidated- not entirely anyway. "That's _not_ it."

"Can't you just thank me and be done with it?" he snapped, turning again and hurrying away.

"Thank you?" I shouted after him, eliciting a few curious gazes from people wondering why the new girl was screaming at Edward Cullen. But he didn't respond, just kept walking, and I was left feeling dizzy and confused.

I returned to my post standing on the sidewalk- as the majority of the student body surrounded the van and the crushed car behind it- and felt myself shaking as I realized _I_ could have been crushed too.

I glanced over at Edward who was getting into his car, looking at me once before he ducked himself inside.

_Thank you._


End file.
